A Texas man received a prison sentence of one and a half years on Wednesday for attempting to defraud George Santos out of nearly $1 million. The man had offered to destroy evidence in the corruption case against the disgraced congressman.
Hector Medina, a 40-year-old man, has confessed to creating a false persona as a well-connected political influencer. He then attempted to extort money from Santos by falsely claiming that he possessed incriminating evidence that could be used against him. Medina promised to make this evidence “disappear” in exchange for a sum of money.
Federal prosecutors have revealed that Medina, going by the name Michael Soto, attempted to pull off the same scam on various well-known criminal defendants, including actor Danny Masterson, but failed to persuade anyone.
According to Joseph Veith, Medina’s attorney, his client attempted to settle his gambling debts through a plan that lacked the necessary sophistication and credibility to actually be successful.
Medina, who pleaded guilty to identity theft and wire fraud in September, was joined by Santos, who admitted to deceiving donors, duping voters, and stealing the identities of his own family members, among others, to make campaign donations.
“It’s fairly unusual where you’d have the defendant and the victim both charged in separate instances with the same crime,” Veith said by phone Wednesday. “My client is just happy his case is over, irrespective of what Mr. Santos is going to have to deal with.”
Santos chose not to provide any comment on Medina’s case, but he did submit a statement to the judge.
Earlier this month, Santos requested the judge in New York who is handling his case to postpone the sentencing until the summer. He expressed his intention to pay off the fines amounting to over half a million dollars by producing additional episodes of his newly launched podcast, “Pants on Fire.”
Santos could be looking at a mandatory minimum sentence of two years for the identity theft charge, with a maximum potential prison term of 22 years. The sentencing date has been set for April 25.
